Barney Frank: “I do not believe it was an honest error. I believe they figured out a game. The central point I want to make is this…”

“I do not believe it was an honest error. I believe they figured out a game. The central point I want to make is this, and I am not for hanging anyone, but the fact that an agency was able to accumulate a surplus greater than 10 percent of the total authorization here is an indication that you are giving them more money than they need for the purposes you say you are giving it to them for. In fact, what you were doing, that $4 billion, that is the entire Community Development Block Grant Program for the United States. It was twice the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program for the United States. You are talking about the deficit, and people should understand, because we are going to get to a zero deficit.”